Leslie van Houten has been in prison since being convicted of murder in 1971 alongside several other followers of Charles Manson. Van Houten, in particular, was responsible for stabbing Rosemary LaBianca (along with Patricia Krenwinkel) in the murders that occurred the night after Sharon Tate and some friends of hers were murdered by members of the Manson Family in August 1969. Now 68, van Houten has been denied parole 20 times and continues to serve a life sentence.
But Thursday, the AP reported that she’d get a new hearing per a relatively recent California law that established “a process for the board to provide a parole consideration hearing for the purpose of reviewing the parole suitability of any life or determinately sentenced inmate who was under [23] years of age at the time of his or her controlling offense.” Van Houten was 19 at the time of the LaBianca murders.